The Bible of Master of Fine Art (Rankings and Acceptance rate)

[proartistic]

Hi

I found out most of renown art schools' admission statistics.

These statistics are mostly based on Fine arts (painting & drawing, sculpture, Photography, printmaking etc)

however, some school does not specify individual department, so I referred to given department's statistics.

Source: http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools.aspx

TOP GROUP (the most selective)

1st

Columbia(Visual arts)

Student Statistics: Average age 27. 1,052 applicants, 2% accepted, 26 enrolled.

2nd

USC(Fine Art)

Average age 27. 312 applicants, 3% accepted, 8 enrolled.

UCLA(Department of Art)

703 applicants, 3% accepted, 14 enrolled.

NYU (Studio Art)

Average age 29. 337 applicants, 3% accepted, 9 enrolled

3rd

RISD (Painting)

Student Statistics: Average age 29. 372 applicants, 4% accepted, 10 enrolled

GROUP A ( highly selective)

Yale ( School of Art)

Average age 28. 1,222 applicants, 5% accepted, 57 enrolled

Hunter (Studio Art)

Average age 30. 766 applicants, 5% accepted, 22 enrolled

Tyler (Painting & Sculpture)

Student Statistics: 226 applicants, 8% accepted, 13 enrolled

SAIC (painting)

Student Statistics: 524 applicants, 9% accepted, 29 enrolled.

GROUP B (selective)

Calarts- School of art

Student Statistics: Average age 27. 383 applicants, 17% accepted, 38 enrolled

VCU- School of art

Student Statistics: 907 applicants, 18% accepted, 92 enrolled

GROUP C (relatively selective)

Parson (Fine Arts)

Student Statistics: Average age 27. 242 applicants, 26% accepted, 22 enrolled

SVA (Fine Arts)

Student Statistics: Average age 29. 408 applicants, 27% accepted, 32 enrolled.

.

Cranbrook (Fine arts)

Average age 27. 430 applicants, 30% accepted, 71 enrolled

GROUP D (you can go)

Pratt (Fine art)

Average age 28. 355 applicants, 46% accepted, 65 enrolled

GROUP E (unknown)

MICA : unknown

[jackthecrow]

I kinda already had a ball park figure of most of those percentages from my own research, but seeing them all in a row like that kinda made me vomit in mouth a little.

[TheStranger]

Sometimes you just have to stare at something like that and just smile. "There are no answers. Only choices." Put yourself in the best position you can and you will end up where you should.

Janet Echelman applied to seven different art schools, was rejected by all seven, and became a well known and renown artist soon after. Life is funny like that. Embrace it for every impossible statistic that it is. If you really & truly want something and are confident in yourself, you cannot fail...you can only give up. If you aren't confident, ask yourself why and fix it. If you aren't sure if you want it as badly as every other applicant, ask yourself why. Good luck to everyone applying soon.

[losemygrip]

We recently had a faculty candidate who was initially rejected from all his grad school choices. He went somewhere as a special student a couple of years, built up his portfolio, and then was accepted at all of those same schools, attending one of the top 5 programs in the country in his field.

[TheStranger]

Sometimes you have to fail before you success...just don't give up!

[gentlebreeze]

Any stats on UGA, UNM, Penn and Stanford?

[losemygrip]

Get the CAA Guide to Graduate Programs in Art. It has lots of this kind of info, and more (although you don't get acceptance rates for every institution--participation was voluntary.)

[truthbetold]

like other bibles, this one is only one version of the story

yale's acceptance rate for painting and sculpture may be lower since this rate includes graphic design

vcu's sculpture department would have only 3% acceptance rate, making it as a department into one of the most selective programs int he country

[proartistic]

You are right.

I wished they had a really acurate rate that covers individual departments.

some have but many are from "art department" or "school of arts"

so it must vary from department to department!

[truthbetold]

also the % of acceptance doesn't really matter -- if you are a good match for a school with a 3% acceptance rate you will likely get in and if you are a poor match for a school with a 20% acceptance rate you probably won't get in.

remember too that the average age for folks getting in to the highly selective programs is 27-29 years old (this info is also on petersons) b/c it takes most people that long to develop their work adequately. several folks in most programs will be in their 30s and there will be a couple babies.

some 22-23 year olds go to yale, columbia, etc, but it is rare. so if you are in your early 20s and getting rejections, you can decide whether to give it some time and get in to a more selective school, or go to a less selective school sooner/younger.

[proartistic]

yeah

I wouldn't go to Yale or Columbia at the age of 68 something like that......! (I will only have about 20 years to live )

I'd rather attend a graduate school in my late 20- early 30 so that I can find a teaching job or other opportunities suggested by MFA degree.

A degree cannot be an ultimate dream but a "gateway" or "foothold"

It would be wise if you can realize where you are in your life and when do you need to pass the gateway and build the foothold!

Edited August 11, 2011 by proartistic

[Fool4nine]

Why not go to Yale or Columbia at the age of 68. There's a good chance you won't have to pay back those enormous student loans.